Cabrillo National Monument

Three days ago, Scott and I took an excursion to Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma in San Diego.  Since Scott grew up in San Diego, I asked him if he had ever been there before and he said he never had, so this was a fun thing for both of us.  Even when we lived there with the kids, we'd never been there before, so this was a treat.  I learned things I didn't know before about San Diego.  First of all, when you come into San Diego off Interstate 8, you'll take this all the way as far as you can go when the freeway just becomes an expressway.  This is down by where we took the dogs at the beach a few weeks ago.  Then, you turn left and go all the way down the point to the end of the peninsula and then you arrive.  It's pretty easy driving directions.

Once there, I got my National Parks book stamped.  When I walked into the Visitors Center, the first thing I saw was this old sailor statue...or so I thought.  All of a sudden, he moved and I was taken back...the dude was real!  Scared the bageeberz out of me!  He got a good chuckle.  He said, "You probably thought I was a dummy, didn't you"?  I said, "Naw, you just looked like a "man"a-kin".  He laughed!  But, he was sure life-like!

We looked around the Cabrillo Visitor's Center and then went out to take photos of the bay.  Cabrillo sits high on top of a cliff and overlooks downtown, the airport, the port and the bay.  Quite the view.  

The bad thing was that it was extremely foggy on Saturday, so our view was overcast and fog covered the whole area much of the time, but the fog presented us with some fun photos.

Speaking of photos, Scott bought a new Cannon Powershot G7x Mark II and he's been experimenting with it, so I had a lot of fun taking photos of him taking photos.  LOL.

Once we were done at the observatory, I was getting cold.  It was 63 degrees - not bad, but the wind was so strong and the fog was so cool, that you needed a jacket so Scott ran back to the car and grabbed my Quebec sweatshirt while I hung out checking out the cool stuff at the visitor's center.  I found the neatest things...saying from nature entitled "Advice from a..." by www.yourtruenature.com.  These are really pretty cool.  I really loved the one called "Advice from a Trail" and also "Advice from an Eclipse".  They had a good supply of "water" type advices and I loved reading them all.

Once Scott returned we went next door to the museum and learned a little about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European to set foot on the west coast of the United States and who explored the waters off San Diego, Los Angeles and down into Baja California.  He came to the America's by 1510 so he had to be born sometime in the latter 1400's.  No one knows of his birth nor his death.

He was prominent in the crossbow in the conquest of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan aka Mexico City.  In 1541, Cabrillo's flagship, the San Salvador, a 100-foot full-rigged galleon with a 10-foot draft entered a harbor that he described as "a closed and very good port".  It carried officers, crew, slaves, and Augustinian priests.  Quite a vast array of people!  

Cabrillo used navigational instruments and I device I found interesting that charted their course in rough waters, keeping track of how far off course they went.  I can't figure out how it works, but they guys were pretty smart!  When we stepped off his ship on a silvery strand of beach, he named it San Miguel, the site of current San Diego.

At the time, there was a storm so he stayed in San Diego for 6 days then went north and found Catalina Islands and San Clemente, which he named San Salvador.  When he sailed toward Los Angeles, the sky was smoky and he named the area Bahia de Los Fumos - Bay of Smokes.  Interesting to me, that it a perfect name for Los Angeles now with all the smog.

After we left the visitor's center, we took more photos of the statue of Cabrillo and then continued to hike up to the old lighthouse at Point Loma.  The fog gave our photos a very eerie and mysterious look and it was so dense and the wind so fast that you could feel the moisture on your face.  I'm sorry to say that I washed my hair before we came and it was a disaster when we got home.  That's how much humidity was in the air.

The Old Point Loma Lighthouse was a fun little lighthouse to tour.  It was a lighthouse for only 36 years because the fog gets so thick where it was located that sailors couldn't see the light.  Service there started on November 15, 1855 and was discontinued on March 23, 1891.  The light keeper actually moved to a lower area closer to the tip of water so that the light could be seen better near shore rather than up on the top of the hill.  Now, that station is part of the US Coast Guard - Point Loma Light Station.

What really attracted me to this lighthouse is that my great-great-great grandfather, Newton Bacon, was the Old Bailey's Harbor lighthouse keeper in Wisconsin and his lighthouse was a birdcage style lighthouse, similar to this one, but taller.  I was intrigued to see inside the lighthouse and also learn about the lenses and refraction of the light.

As you can see by the photos, there is a main floor with two rooms and then a very narrow spiral staircase leading to the second floor where two bedrooms were.  Near the stairs was a very narrow tall ladder going up to the lens.  Very simple.  The life was very simple and yet cold and lonely.

I really enjoyed the museum in the out building that talked how the lighthouse worked, how it was furnished and how the light refraction worked.  All very interesting.  And, just outside the outbuilding was also a small garden.  Large enough to sustain your family; small, simple and quaint.  The lighthouse today looks just as it did in 1855.  It's extremely well preserved.

After leaving the lighthouse, we started back down the hill and discovered yet another find.  Point Loma was also had a Military Coastal Exhibit.  It was a building used by the Army during World War II as an Army Radio Station.  There were also bunkers and ammunition in case of war.  Who knew!  I was quite surprised by this, but it made a whole lot of sense at the same time.

Next, we were going to walk down to the tide pools, but they were way down the mountain so we walked back to the car and and drove down the mountain.  We passed the USCG (US Coast Guard)  station (gee, Lisa, Josh and the kids could have lived there!), and right adjacent is the Tide Pools.  It's about a 1/2 mile area of shoreline where you can park and check out all the creatures of the deep, except that tide was too low today and there was nothing to see.  Boo.

We walked out to the rocks and stayed off the beach because of the weather.  But, we got some great shots of the landscape, some divers, sea gulls and pelicans!  Also, there was a sea lion swimming about as well.  Scott was smart by this time and got his jacket.  And, not only that but he got his ski mask and put it on.  He's so silly.  But, then he pushed it up on his head and he looked like an old gruff sea captain with his whiskery beard.  Arrrhh, matie!

And, just for those who love to hear and watch the ocean, here's a couple of different live video.

We had lost track of time and decided we'd better grab some food before we went back to El Centro and the dogs.  On the way back toward San Diego, we stopped at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery where rows and rows of graves are lined up on the ocean side and the bay side of the hill.  Here, thousands of veterans grave stand still and peaceful in this place.  They were in the process of disposing of thousands of Christmas wreaths that stood at each grave with a red bow during the season.  It must have looked beautiful.  As we drove out, I spied a headstone of a David McCance.  I thought it interesting since I have a David McCance in my family tree.  What I didn't mention earlier is that when you head toward the monument, you have to drive down the peninsula and enter restricted land is owned by the Navy with Navy quarters and this national cemetery as well!

Back on the road, I was so hungry thinking about those divers possibly diving for abalone when we were at the shoreline, that I wanted seafood.  Well, Scott hates seafood so we decided to go to a surf and turf place but then changed our minds and decided to go to Point Loma Seafood instead.  I thought it was a restaurant, but it was just a place that you order your food from a counter and then try and find a place to eat inside or out.  While I was waiting for my dinner, I took some fun photos of the landscape behind the store and also some photos of the dock, sea gulls and boats. Once they called our number and since there was no room inside, I ate my lunch of Clam Chowder in a Sourdough bowl and one fish taco outside in the cold and I will say it didn't take any time for everything to get cold. Scott refused anything to eat and when I was done I took him to his beloved McDonalds.  Gag!

It was a fun trip and we had a great time.  The sea air sure made up sleepy and we watched a James Bond movie and went to bed.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2018

Happy New Year, everyone!! 

We spent the day today just hanging out.  There was a cute little parade here at Desert Trails this morning.  The Canadians in the park really get into the spirit and they've been talking about the New Year's Day parade for weeks!  They decked out a float with Canadian flags galore, balloons and the tin can train!

A few US residents got into the spirit, too by decorating their golf carts.  Two of the three carts were our next door neighbors, Erv and Jo and Jo's sister Mickey.  If you look at the photo you can see Mickey's dog, Ben dressed with a wreath around his neck.  Too cute!  We also had the marching band come in from the local high school to play (here's the video of the band)...

...and the local hot rod and antique car club also showed off their souped up and restored vintage cars and trucks.

After the noon-time festivities, we took the girls over to Woof Town Dog Park, a super cute local dog park in Imperial, California about 10 minutes from us, so they could just run, play and have some fun instead of being cooped up around the RV.  They met a new maltie-poo named Ben and the four of them had a doggie hay-day play day.  I learned about the dog park from Jo and Mickey who told me about it.  I was an amazing dog park sitting on about 25 acres.  The largest section of the park is for the big dogs and there were two smaller sections for the small dogs - each having their own safe entrance.  We'll be bringing the girls back for a lot of play time for sure!

Here's wish you and yours a happy and productive 2018!  Now, to watch movie 3 from our James Bond marathon that we've been doing.  We saw Dr. No on Saturday night; From Russian with Love and Goldfinger last night.  Tonight, our entertainment will be Thunderball.

Yuma, Part 2

We decided to go back to Yuma yesterday and check out a few more RV resorts.  We're trying to find something for next year.  We were thinking of going to Florida, but after talking to our daughter, Lisa, we decided we'd probably be happier in the California / Arizona area.

So, we first went to Cocopah RV Resort and Golf Course.  This was a nice resort right on the Colorado River.  It looks like it's on the California side of the border, but everything south of the Colorado River is Arizona.  The park is in a rural section of west Yuma out in the fields where the crops are.  While it isn't gated, it's so far out there that there isn't a need and you have to pass by a 24-hour guardsman to enter.

The park streets are named after legendary Golf Courses.  There is an USGA rated 5,731 yard, 18 hole golf course on site and the park models and RVs are located along the fingers of the gold course.  It's unique in how it's set up.  The pro shop was one of the nicest one I've ever seen; clothes, clubs, shoes, supplies - everything you could want to golf.  It also has a putting course, chipping course and putting green!

On the map below, the yellow section is the pet section for those with animals.  It's a bit farther away from the main happenings, but it has a nice pet area.  Most of the park is already filled up with park models so the RV area is limited to near the pet area and pet overflow areas.  You would definitely need a golf cart to rent to get around this resort.

As is typical with the southwest, there is little to no grass at your rig.  Here is what sites look like.  So, it's a little sparse.  But, people add things to make it more homey.

Amenities at this park included:

• 19th Hold Restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner)
• Large heated pool and spa with grassy areas
• 2 acre grassy pet park (not fenced)
• Ballroom with hardwood floors for dancing
• Ballroom stage for events
• Round tables for social dining
• Card room, Billiard tables and library
• Ceramics and Craft/Quilt Rooms
• Woodshop
• Shuffleboard and Horseshoes
• Tennis and Pickleball Courts
• Archery Range
• River Picnic Area
• Fitness center
• Mail service
• ATM in the Pro Shop
• Convenience Store

The pool was very warm and I liked that it had handicap access, which you don't often see and is overlooked.  The shuffleboard area was being re-waxed when we were there and there is an activities center with lots of excursions available.  Downside is that the sewing room is extremely small...

Cocopah's building were pretty old, though.  Decore was still from the 80's in the blue and pink color sceme and you can tell Cocopah is a Indian owned park.  It just needs some TLC although it was nice.  But, the views are beautiful!

After we left Cocopah, we went to about 8 other parks and while the Internet said they were 4.5 and above rated, we strongly disagreed.  For the price and money, they were low scale for sure.  We did, however, like Sun Vista RV Resort.  It's a large park right next door to The Palms that we visited last Wednesday.  Sun Vista doesn't have a golf course, but the other amenities made up for the lack of a course.  The park is cute in that the streets are named for legendary Hollywood movie stars.

Sun Vista has orange trees on practically every site that you can pick off and eat when ripe.

It also had a lot of GREAT amenities:

• Large spaces with full hook-ups & 30/50 amp
• Satellite TV
• Locked Mail Boxes and forwarding
• Notary Services
• Fax and Copies
• HUGE Laundry - the biggest I've EVER seen!
• Spacious bathrooms with showers
• Indoor AND Outdoors heated pools and spas
• Movie Theater
• Ice Cream Shack
• Two story Recreation and Entertainment Center for classes
• Top Entertainment with Dinner Shows - Live Shows weekly!
• Two story fully equipped Fitness Center
• 2 Fenced Dog parks (one with grass and one without)
• Tournament Quality Shuffleboard and Horseshoe Pits
• Music Room
• Card Room
• Library
• Billiards Room
• GOBS of resort activities
• Ballroom for Dancing, Classes and Entertainment
• Walking Path and Exercise Stations
• Radio Controlled Car Race Track
• Computer Lab and Video Library
• Chipping and Putting Greens
• Woodshop
• Driving Cages
• Organized tours
• In-Park Hair Stylists and Massage Therapist
• Arts & Crafts Classes
• Pickle Ball and Bocci Ball
• Sunday Worship and Bible studies

Just so much to do!!  I really loved their activity board with classes like harmonica, ukulele, yoga...all sorts of things!!  Class can include:

• Bob Ross Painting
• Paint and Brush
• Scrapbooking
• Quilting and Machine Embroidery
• Needle Crafts
• Card Making
• Lapidary
• Silversmithing
• Genealogy
• Singing
• Wood Shop
• Investment Club
• Photo Club
• Ceramics

The sites for RVs are getting low with a lot of park models, but the sites are double wide - just not as deep.  So, a typical site allows for your RV, pad and car parking.  The only downside is that the streets are quite narrow so parking would concern me a little bit since we have to back in.  While we were there everyone was very friendly and helpful.  We spent some time in the quilt room upstairs where about 100 ladies quilt.  The room was very large and spacious with books and tools to use.  Lots of tables are available to use and the room is generally set up for sewing when you arrive.

Outside, there is an indoor and outdoor pools, which are both very clean...and WARM.  And, a masseuse on site!  Heavenly.  My back is still hurting, so I wish I was there now!

The fitness center is great and they have their own set of amenities:

• Water Exercises
• Water Aerobics
• Arthritic Aqua Classes
• Easy Aerobics
• Yoga
• Tai Chi
• Pilates
• Zumba Gold

This place seems to have it all - except a golf course.  I think we'd like this place a lot.  Now, it just depends on the price.  We also are going to head back one more day to see the last of the resorts we want check out.  So far, our order would be Sun Vista #1, The Palms #2 then Cocopah #3.  If The Palms gives us the buy one / get one (1/2 off) for next winter we'd do that.  If not, we'd probably like Sun Vista.

Yuma, Arizona

Yesterday, I don't know what I did but I really hurt my back after I got out of bed.  I think I just bend funny and it's been tweaked all day.  But, after an hour of heat on my back, it felt a little better and we went the 55 miles over to Yuma.  I had actually planned on going to the Yuma Territorial Prison and other tourist sites but our day took a different turn than we planned.  

The first place we went to was Grandma Jo's Quilt Shop on the east side of Yuma.  There I found a couple of cute patterns for a casserole dish cover, a supply binder and I bought a few fat quarters to make a sit and stitch pin cushion for the chair or edge of the sofa where I can stitch, put my scissors and thread, etc.  

This is how Scott always feels waiting for me at a quilt shop!

The shop was cute but very small.  All the girls here at Desert Trails said it was the only quilt store in Yuma so I had to go check it out.  While they were super friendly and the shop had a nice supply of books and patterns, the fabric was not the best.  Not one single Moda fabric.  They did have a room full of batiks, which was impressive, but nothing that really stood out.  And, I didn't think the fabric was the best they could have put in a quilt shop.  They did have a huge display of southwestern fabrics, appropriate for the locale, but not for regular quilter.  I could see selling it because you were in the desert, but that's all and it's kind of cheesy, in my opinion.

After the shopping, Scott wanted to drive over to an RV resort down the street called The Palms RV Resort.  Apparently, there are over 60+ RV parks in Yuma.  It's the warmest town in Arizona during the winter months and 150,000 people flock to Yuma from Canada and other US states during the winter.  Yesterday, the weather in Yuma was 78 degrees and so nice!  It was 75 in El Centro.

There is security at The Palms and they keep track of every visiting car in the park via walky-talky.  The Palms is an interesting park in that there is a central gathering facility for events - a fitness room, splash pool, lap pool and hot tub, library, mailboxes, crafts areas for pottery, lapidary, quilting, etc., outdoor grill to purchase food from, a ballroom where they have bi-weekly tribute concerts, shuffleboard courts, dog grooming station, etc.

The resort is unique in that you can purchase your pad and build a house, gazebo, or casita on that pad, or just rent a space for the winter.  Right now they are having a special for next winter - your rent 3 months and get 3 months free!  So, it would be about $1700 for the winter, which is great!  The cost of the pad to purchase is $39K, which gives you access to all amenities, etc.  Each space can be leased out in the months you aren't there.  The icky part of the park for me is that it's a desert wasteland other than the central activity center.  There are very few trees and the palms there are not big palms but small skinny kind.  Lots are nothing but gravel with a small concrete pad and each site is back-in only.  Some site (generally on the ends) are larger and wider and most sites are quite deep.

Here's a map of the park.  I like the layout and I like the north section of the park more than any other near the small dog park.

Before we knew it, we had spent nearly 3 hours there, so we decided we better get home since the girls were back in El Centro.  But, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for a bite to eat on the way home.  We were home at 5:30 and enjoyed the day despite my back aching.

We've decided that maybe we'll go to Arizona next winter even thought we thought perhaps we'd go to Florida...not sure yet.  But, we will be making a few more trips over to Yuma and see what we can see.  There is a couple here at Desert Trails in the temporary area from Roosevelt, Utah, heading over to Yuma today where they stay for the winter.  They said they used to come to Desert Trails years and years ago but people don't come here as much as they used to.  Hmmm.  Wonder why.  They said Desert Trails was packed every year but over the years not as much.  They said Yuma was hard to get into and now it's easier.  I suppose with over 60 RV parks, it's easier to get into the place you want to be.  Maybe that's why The Palms offers 1/2 off on winter sites.  Regardless, we'll keep searching and see what we can see in Yuma.

Today, we're going to hang out here in El Centro.  I'm heading over to the pool and hot tub for my stiff back.  Scott's off to get a haircut and then we'll see what we decide to do after that.